ABSTRACT
In this chapter we analyse how gender, risk-taking, and embodiment interrelate in embodied, gendered practices. The body is central in practice theory: there are no practices without the body. This does not mean that the body always ‘mediates’ risk in homogenous ways; rather, as we have demonstrated it is implicated in both the routinisation and reproduction of practices as well as in the dynamic remaking of practices. We show how the body is central for the routinisation of a practice and for learning the new skills that are required to participate in a practice. Further, we illustrate how risk perceptions are not simply based on discourses of factual (or other) information obtained from various sources, but also comprise embodied and affective experiences. Practices can ‘feel wrong’ and such affective experiences are equally central for understanding how risk perceptions are formed. Furthermore, this chapter demonstrates that bodies are also gendered bodies, and that gender, risk-taking, and embodiment interrelate as gendered practices.
